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The Drift, "Ceiling Sky"
Collecting six vinyl-only songs onto CD for the first time, including the band's 12" debut, this album from highlights their jazz-inflected soundtracks for movies that don't exist. Among these tracks are remixes by Four Tet and Sybarite, who pick up the pace with their unique contributions yet keep the mood intact.
With lush production that often strays into gorgeous territory, this is a pleasant album that won’t ruffle any feathers. Fronted by a horn, the group seems more like a jazz combo than a rock band. They also use some lightly processed effects and electronics but these are mixed unobtrusively into the ambience without ever coming to the fore. My only complaint is that while the band are adept musicians, their songwriting tends to relegate the music to the background because nothing ever jumps out as being terribly memorable. It is the sort of thing I could listen to all day yet be able to recall very little of afterwards. The songs have their own trajectory, but the payoff is rarely dramatic enough to elicit any emotional satisfaction.
On the other hand, the remixes add some distinction to the material. Four Tet's remix of "Gardening, Not Architecture" lends urgency to the rhythm and integrates high-pitched bleeps into the mix that give the song its distinctive character. Even better is Sybarite's remix of "Invisible Cities," which uses electronics to bring about even more explicit changes in the music with a strong beat and loops.
As a collection of tracks and not something originally conceived as an album unto itself, these songs are of a consistently high quality, each one as enjoyable as the last. There's not a lot here for me to sink my teeth into, but it works just as well as an enjoyable appetizer for the band's forthcoming full-length.
